Aston Villa welcome Arsenal to Villa Park for the early kick-off on Saturday, and Steven Gerrard has confirmed the latest team news.
Villa will be looking to bounce back after our defeat to West Ham last time out, which ended an impressive run of form that saw us pick up three wins on the spin and keep three consecutive clean sheets in the process.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs West Ham: Martinez, Ramsey not enough in defeat
However, the focus this week will have been on bouncing back after a disappointing setback, and there was an anxious wait to hear from Gerrard as there were a number of injury concerns at the London Stadium.
Disappointingly, the Villa boss confirmed that Lucas Digne will be absent this weekend due to a hamstring injury, although it was suggested by Gerrard that it wasn’t a serious blow, while Kortney Hause will miss out due to an abdominal issue.
It appears as though both Calum Chambers and Douglas Luiz will be available as despite the pair sustaining facial injuries last Sunday, Gerrard didn’t mention them in terms of players who will play no part this weekend.
There was good news on Marvelous Nakamba too, as it was confirmed that the the Villa midfielder will resume full training after the international break, and so it’s hoped that he’ll edge closer to a comeback in the coming weeks as his presence has been missed in the side.
Gerrard on team news…
“Lucas Digne will miss the game tomorrow. He’s nursing a hamstring issue. I don’t think the issue is too big, so he won’t be out for too long,” the Villa boss told the media, as per the club’s official site.
“He’ll join up and be assessed by France, having been called up. I think he’ll be a big doubt for the first game and an outside chance for their second game. He’ll obviously miss tomorrow’s game for us.
“Marvelous Nakamba will be in full training for us after the international break, which is positive. He’s not too far away and he’ll do certain sessions with our Under-23 group next week.
“We’ll integrate him into the first team set-up. That’s good news for us.
“Kortney Hause has got an abdominal issue and he’ll be missing tomorrow as well.”
